This weeks Studio Saturday is a peek into the messy studio of Lynn Davis. Watch your feet, there seems to be a pile of papers on the floor! And they are sticky ...
I have watched in amazement and awe as others have explored the world of resin. I've read lots of books and articles and done research. But I still wasn't prepared for the level of fun and messiness of working with two-part resin. Lately some folks have been referring to me as a mixed-media artist. If that means that I like to play with lots of different media and mix things up, then that's probably right. And if it means I'm a little mixed up, that's definitely right!
It all started with etching some copper and wanting to make some containers. I really want to make a locket design, I'm facinated with the idea of something that opens, that has something stored or preserved inside it. Like pocketwatches with the lid and hinges, or like lockets with photos or things hidden inside them. So I was making designs on the copper to create the container part.
I started making boxes out of copper, and little round containers, and with one thing leading to another I started pouring some resin on it all and that's when things started getting a little crazy. I had rounds and rectangles, and I filled them with things and poured on the resin - we're really cooking now. But I had some leftover resin! So I poured it into a mold - waste not, right? Later out popped this seashell shape, all ghostly and transparent.
It's facinating and yet tough for me because it has to sit for a long time, without being handled, while it cures. So to keep myself from having my fingerprints as a permanent design element, I must leave them alone. I'm tactile and visual, so I want to handle them. But hands-off!
It's been a lot of fun, really messy and very stinky and sticky. I have plastic dropcloths everywhere and have learned not to touch anything that looks even slightly like a droplet I may have left behind. I'm enhancing my level of patience and developing an appreciation for allowing myself to make lots of mistakes. And huge messes.
So here's the question so I don't feel I'm all alone with creating such a huge sticky situation, and this could be about painting a room, sewing drapes, cooking a recipe, making cookies or planting a garden, they're all creative activities -
What's the messiest project you've ever started, and what did you create? Do you mind getting dirty while creating - and how did it turn out, were you pleased, was it fun and worth the mess?
It's okay to tell on yourself, we're all friends here! Share and share alike. Make me feel better! Post your answer in the comments to this post and if you are selected you could win a sample of a properly cured resin charm - no stickiness, guaranteed!
Stop by tomorrow for gossip in the Bead blogging neighborhood. Don't forget the new ABS $10 Tuesday. A project for you to create for $10 or under, every Tuesday.
Posted on a sticky keyboard with paper stuck to her shoe by Lynn Davis - Mixed Up Media Maker in Dropcloth Central
19 comments:
My messiest projects always involve glue. I get it on my fingers, then on the project, then on the beads, then I stick to everything before it dries. Then the project has to be cleaned.
I need to be neater.
www.sewandso.etsy.com
Neat I'm not, at any time. Probably my messiest project was back when I was doing rubberstamping. I decided to make some watercolored backround papers. As is usual with this kind of project, it mushroomed enormously. I had water, paint and paper everywhere. Of course I couldn't do this in the summertime so it would dry fast. Noooo. Dead of winter and I had papers laying around for days. LOL Did I mind the mess? No, but like you, I couldn't keep my hands off while they were drying.
Arline
You should see the living room floor as I type this. There's about 4 square feet of beads, jars, string, tools, etc all over it. That's me, always a mess.
My messiest project? Probably the time I tried to carve and laid my thumb open to the bone. Blood is messy . . . ick
I can't think of any inherently messy projects at the moment...I live in a small apartment, so I have to keep a lid on my messy urges! However, I used to seal knots in my beadwork with clear nail polish. This worked okay until the day I dropped the bottle on a tile floor...broken glass and sticky, stinky substance all in one mess!
Hannah B.
Oh yes, messy I am.. however way before my artsy days, I used to sew. I was married to someone in the army and we had many formal occasions and were broke so I was always making formal dresses. I used to lay out the patterns on the floor and there would be pins everywhere in the carpet and pattern pieces etc, etc.
I often managed to turn out some ok dresses but the house would be in chaos- 3 little kids all under 6 running around with food and pattern pieces and those so darn pins.. my ex would be yelling at me and I was lost in my "creation"
I can only laugh now when I look at myself covered in glaze or clay.. og yah.. I am a messy creative!!! Joan T Off Center
I love working messy. I think the biggest mess I ever made was when I painted and glittered 50 pairs of shoes. Hot pink glitter was everywhere. All throughout the house, my car, everywhere. Good thing it was pretty!
Imaginina
My messiest time was when I decided to make Christmas presents.
This Christmas I decided to make square stain glass candleholders,and make the scented,colored candle wax to fill them with.Oh,there were so many leaks in my holders,the wax spilled everywhere,nevermind the glass slivers from my candle holders.Six yrs. later,I still find wax!
Like you I must say that resin is THE messiest thing EVER. I end up with it all over me, my tools and anything in sight. Cleaning up is rather nightmarish but the results are definitely worth it. Besides you have a very clean work space afterwards!!
Polymer clay for me is very messy. I'm just not familiar with all of it's qualities yet. I've tried resin, but I didn't find that exciting. Polymer clay, I do find exciting, but messy. I think it's worth it.
My messiest project was when I decorated pingpong balls for Christmas ornaments. I'm still wondering why pingpong balls. But it was fun and I had tiny beads and ribbon glued to it seemed like everything. I don't mind getting dirty/messy while creating, it's the clean up that gets crazy! They turned out really cute and I've never made them again!
I would have an easier time answering if there are any "neat" project I can do. NO!!!
I make a mess. My whole house is project after project! UGH!
I have begun to decoupage but i have such a hard time with the glue, but the messiest time i had was when one year we painted the wall going up our stairs with random left over paint that we had.We actually finger painted on the wall!!
It was really fun and felt great knowing we couldnt mess up. That was the only "graffiti" i have ever been a part of and it was worth every minute of it and the 6 months that it stayed up until we we decided to paint over it(and hopefully do it again someday:))
cyclona66@aol.com
I live in C.H.A.O.S. - Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome (thanks "Flylady"). My messes my own making and I think it has someting to do with having two jobs and a very active volunteer schedule. I'm a fiber artist as well as a jewelry maker, but it's my sewing room/studio that's the worst. I'll get deep into a project and then have to abandon it to go off and do one of these things on my schedule.
But my biggest/worst mess was a few years ago when I was making some Ukrainian-style Easter Egg on our breakfat table. The weekend before I had stripped the round maple table because the varnish was sticky. I'm sure you can see what's coming. I tipped over the jar of green dye and made a permenant mess on the table.
Lemons to lemonade, I painted the table white and stenciled our china patteren on it. I loved that table!
Emanda
www.ArtemisiaStudio.blogspot.com
Man, you all are cracking me up! I am readings these and feeling better and better, laughing out loud! plus ... I took the afternoon to 'clean up' the studio so for about five minutes I should be able to see the top of the table. Thanks for sharing your stories, they are great!
I have done a lot of messy crafts in my time, including tile mosaic and lots of charcoal black grout. But the messiest most recent thing I've made is faux turquoise from polymer clay. The turquoise colored clays are chopped into bits and mixed with black paint and sand. The mixture is blended with your fingers and gathered into balls or blocks to be made into beads. With or without gloves it is a messy process, but definitely worth the 'mucking' around!
I'm a little OCD when it comes to messes so I try to avoid them at all costs.
I'd say Polymer clay would be the messiest thing I've dealt with and I'd say it was NOT worth the mess.
:)
My daughter and I tried to make a 4 foot paper mache dinosaur for a school project. What a mess--flour paste everywhere--the floor, the table, the chairs, our clothes, our hair!! Then we had to paint it --haha. Paper mache--never again. Susan Z
I am just a slob. Plain and simple. I don't want to be, and I do clean up well, but there it is :-(
Oh, Cyndi - I don't even clean up well! You should see the workspace in my garage - it's just shameful. Lynn, I have to agree with you - working with resin is high up on my mess list!
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